Ask the Author: Jason Arnett
Answered Questions (5)
Jason Arnett
I'm about a third of the way through the next book in the All the Devils Are Here tetralogy. It's the story of how the Kashone people find the leader who will get them home to help overthrow the Sah Empire.
Jason Arnett
The best thing about being a writer is making room for more stories by writing the ones that bubble up to the top. Once they're 'on paper,' there's room for the next one to start growing.
Also, I get to learn a lot of stuff about things that interest me, then use them.
Also, I get to learn a lot of stuff about things that interest me, then use them.
Jason Arnett
Don't just aspire. WRITE. The more you write, the better you get. The better you get, the more you want to write. If you're writing, you're a writer. If you aspire to be published, that's a different thing.
Jason Arnett
Writer's block is one of those things, like Bigfoot, that I want to believe in but I'm really not sure. If I don't believe in it, it can't really affect me. There are times when the words are more difficult, and often they are incoherent, but that's just getting the mush out of the way so that I can get back to the good stuff. If you think you're blocked, my advice is to write something else for a bit: a letter, a journal or diary, maybe just some thoughts about something else. The act of doing that always clears some of the built up detritus in my brain and allows me to find the words I need to get back going.
I think the real key is to not put so much pressure on yourself to hit your goals - or better yet modify them down - when you don't feel like writing. All progress is progress.
All this goes out the window if you're on a deadline. Then it doesn't matter if you're blocked or not. The editor is waiting and if you don't deliver on time, the work better be stellar and you need to be a nice person.
I think the real key is to not put so much pressure on yourself to hit your goals - or better yet modify them down - when you don't feel like writing. All progress is progress.
All this goes out the window if you're on a deadline. Then it doesn't matter if you're blocked or not. The editor is waiting and if you don't deliver on time, the work better be stellar and you need to be a nice person.
Jason Arnett
I've got a stack of things from the last few years that have piled up around the house. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu; The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin; Harlan Ellison's Shatterday; the latest Haruki Murakami collection and a bunch more. Today, though, I got Jonathan Maberry's Kagen the Damned and I'm diving right into it because it's so different from what I'm writing.
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